Perspectives

Storyline was never something special in Call of Duty universe. But this times everything is changed. The story is told from two different perspectives which at one point will get connected somehow. First perspective is Sgt. John "Soap" MacTavish from 22 SAS Regiment. You will play first time from his perspective in the prologue mission when you have to find a nuclear load in a cargo ship. The second perspective is Sgt. Paul Jackson from United States Marine Corps 1st Force Recon, who is detached in the Middle East. You will not be able to use too much his perspective as he dies in a nuclear blast.

The developers used also other additional perspectives to give variation to the game. You will play also as:

- AC-130 Spectre Gunship gunner (you can control all three guns from an AC-130 plane)

- Captain Price in a flash-back mission style (you will go back in time 15 years in Ukraine where you have to assassinate an Ultranationalist party leader called Zakhaev)

- President Yasir Al-Fulani (it's just a cinematic scene from a first person view where you will be executed - pretty dramatic)

Story

Russian ultranationalist Imran Zakhaev is the evil from these game. He wants to turn Russia back to the Soviet Union times, by using nuclear power. He funds a military division, located in an anonymous Middle Eastern state, in order to draw attention from Russia and his villain plans. Khaled Al-Asad is his associate and the one who will detonate the nuclear bomb in the Middle East.

The British and U.S. governments discover the plot and they will initiate a commando action in both regions. The British will take the Russia while the US will fight directly in the Middle East fictive state. While the US missions are similar to what Call of Duty was in the past (fast paced action with squad-combat elements), the British missions are much more stealthy (you will play several times in the night, or as a sniper). I don't want to tell you the whole story because I would be a bastard spoiler. What I can add here is that there is also an epilogue mission after the credits roll, coming as a good surprise, taking in consideration the short length of the game. The flash-back mission is stimulant for the gamer, as it brings some originality and drama to the whole game.

Flash-Back Mission

It takes place in Pripyat, Ukraine, 15 years ago, and you play as Cpt. Price. You and Cpt. MacMillan have to eliminate Zakhaev who was considered a threat. You are the one who will shoot him, but he will survive and he will cause further problems in present days. In this mission the graphics are stylized to emphasize a post-nuclear atmosphere, ruled by communist ruins, and dead vegetation.

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Stealth is the main option of this mission. In order to complete the mission as easy as possible, you have to pay attention to what your comrade has to say and follow him step by step. There is a moment when you will have to stay still behind him on the ground while a bunch of soldiers and tanks will pass near you. Zakhaev's execution is made in a Hollywood style. A huge sniper riffle is waiting for you on the roof of a building.

As you grab it you are hearing your comrades indications about humidity, wind speed and direction (see "Sniper" or "Enemy at the Gates" movies). Take your breath, point the target and shoot. The rest of the mission is just desperate run for the extraction point. MacMillan gets injured by a fallen helicopter, so you need to carry him. Everytime you are attacked, you have to drop him, so that he can engage cover fire. The extraction point becomes a carnage, as you wait for the helicopter to arrive. Because the whole scenario is scripted MacMillan will never get hurt. But he will hit as many targets as possible, which is a good thing for you. The problem is that the A.I. detects only you as a target and will make anything to destroy you.

Weapons

Coming into the new era of modern warfare, Infinity Ward makes use of modern technologies and weapons. From the M1911 .45 caliber pistol with silencer, to the little MP5SD, up to M82 sniper riffle, or M4 carbine. Let's not forget the attachments such as M203 grenade launcher for the M16 or M4 carbine and the AN/PEQ-2 Target Pointer combined with night goggles. A very effective modern weapon is the FGM-148 Javelin portable anti-tank guided missile. Check out the video here.

Military Approach

Probably using military analysts, Infinity Ward created a realistic approach of the modern warfare. And I'm not talking only about weapons. You play always in a squad team, with one to four or more comrades. In order to play on higher difficulty levels, you have to learn your comrade movements, as they follow a tactical approach of every situation. From infiltration and cover movements, to sneaking or defending maneuvers. Every approach is a scripted one, but if you can learn them, it will help you a lot in completing the game much easier. Don't try to play the game in a Rambo style. You will have no chance. On easier difficulty levels, you don't have to bother too much about tactics, but still you cannot play like in Doom. The movement of your character is much slower than in normal ego-shooters, especially the strafe maneuver. Don't think you can jump like Gordon. The jump maneuver here only exists without giving you any advantage. It remembers you that your character is human and has limitations. The developers gave up the health system. Now, like in all modern shooters the health regenerates if you can take cover fast. Your view will become red in order to show that you are hurt. Physics are top-notch. A mixture of pre-set animations and ragdoll physics makes the death animations realistic. From the beginning I was surprised that the environment was so vivid, unlike in previous installment of the series where almost everything was scripted. Ladies and gentlemen, Modern Warfare is the first installment to use physics engine, that's why the game is much more dynamic.

Multiplayer

Like all the former versions of Call of Duty, Modern Warfare comes also with a multiplayer mode. While the single campaign is short, believe me, the multiplayer mode compensates it. It's a class system multiplayer mode with five preset classes: Assault, Special Ops, Light Machine Gunner, Demolitions, and Sniper. The classes are separated by the default weapons load outs. The user can also create his own five classes and choose whatever weapons he wants. Obvious you don't have access to all the classes from the beginning. Only two are available, the other being unlocked as you gain more experience online and a higher rank. Not only a higher rank gives you new weapons, upgraded gear or new outfits, but also certain challenges such as number of kills or headshots. These challenges also give XP to the player, so try to complete them. Seems that the highest available rank is 55, although on XBOX 360 and PS3 version, the highest rank will unlock Prestige mode which gives the player the ability to trade his rank and start over again at level 1. This can be done 10 times. Now let's take a look at the Multiplayer modes:

- Free-for-All every player is on his own with full freedom.

- Team Deathmatch already a classic. The player is limited by score and time.

- Ground War definitely a war based on Team Death Match and Domination. The only difference is the increased numbers of players in a team

- Team Objective is divided into another two modes: Domination (capture the flag with respawning) and Search & Destroy (defend objectives without respawning).

- Team Tactical similar to team Deathmatch and Search & Destroy.

- Search and Destroy is based on the simple idea of Counter-Strike. Two teams (attackers and defenders). Attackers have to plant a bomb in one of two bomb sites, while the defenders have to defend the sites and eventually defuse the bombs.

- Headquarters it's all about the laptops!. A laptop spawns somewhere on the map. Two team have to capture the laptop for themselves.

- Domination it's a derived mode from Capture the Flag. There are flags at certain points around the map. All flags are neutral at the beginning. Which team holds the most flags, wins

- Sabotage derived from Search and Destroy. The bomb is neutral and has to bge used to destroy the objective located in both team bases.

- Team Hardcore Team Deathmatch and Search and Destroy but with limited HUD, extra bullet damage, and friendly fire on.

- Old School Team Death Match and Free For All without classes, weapons are pickups, health is increased, and jumps are higher.

- Oldcore same as Old School plus limited HUD and extra bullet damage.

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Gameplay: 93

Great cinematic feeling. Story told from two perspectives throughout the game (the SAS and the US Marine Corps). Fast paced action with several dramatic moments (Yasir Al-Fulani execution, the escape scene from the cargo ship, MacMillan injured by a fallen helicopter, Victor Zakhaev's suicide, etc). Wide variety of missions, influenced by environment, day and night cycle, and weather. Based on military research, the game includes all the infantry type of missions including gunner, and sniper. Huge multiplayer mode with more than a dozen of modes. I consider the game to be too linear in some parts of the gameplay, and the single campaign short. The opponent's A.I. is acceptable. They change their defending positions, take cover, use grenades very often, etc, but still in some parts the A.I. is disturbingly scripted.

Graphics: 94

Based on a proprietary engine, the engine features dynamic lighting, HDR lighting effects, dynamic shadows and depth-of-field.

From the physics point of view the game features "Bullet Penetration" and destructible cars and buildings. Don't imagine that everything is destructible. But the main objects located on the main path and used as cover are destructible. Using a trendy method, the bullets can now penetrate different materials, so wooden fences or thin walls are not a good protection anymore.

Multiplayer: 96

From the beginning the popularity of Call of Duty series was increased by the multiplayer modes. Modern Warfare makes no exception adding new modes and features to it. Based on a class system and XP, the mode increases the length of the gameplay, balancing the short life of the singleplayer.

Sound: 90

Sound effects classic to any shooter are present here but in a higher quality. Though it seems that they don't sound so realistic as in Medal of Honor: Airborne. Anyway, this is compensated by the soundtrack of the game which is composed by Stephen Barton (British composer).

Hardware: 91

The game supports dual video cards, but a NVIDIA 7900 it's enough to play almost at high settings. Having installed the latest beta video drives is a must, or else you will have problems in running the game smoothly.